the sloppy copy

So: looks like my Song of the Day has of late become a Song of the Whenever I Damn Well Feel Like Posting One. Though I doubt this upsets anybody, I’d like to throw out a general apology.



And also-though no one has demanded an ‘splanation, I offer one here:



My brother was in town for Thanksgiving, arriving early Wednesday morning and flying out Saturday night, and the interim was filled with a whole lot of ridiculousness (most of which cannot be accurately recounted, as it is of the Inside Joke variety).



Brother is the variety of person of which I wish I knew more; I’m also quite thankful that there’s only one of him in the world. If I had to name my Top 3 Interesting People I Know, he’d be included in that grouping. He is one of the few people who consistently “get” my lame sense of humor and he is the person with whom I share no less than 45,000 inside jokes – many of which are not, actually, funny.



A friend refers to her late father as her soulmate. When I think of my brother, I understand what she means. Somewhere along the line, someone attached romantic or sexual connotations to that term but I think that’s probably inaccurate. To me, a soulmate is kind of undefinable – when a person is your soulmate you just, I don’t know… you just know.
I don’t think that a soulmate has to be a romantic partner, and I don’t think that each person in the universe is cosmically paired with one other human being. I think there are some people out there lucky enough to have multiple soulmates. And yes, I think there are even folks who are able to marry or otherwise commit themselves singularly to their soulmate, but that a husband or wife (or whatever term you like to use) doesn’t necessarily have to be one’s soulmate.
Me – I’m related to mine, so he’s stuck with me whether he likes it or not.



Let me think about today’s SOTD and get back to ya…

“I sure wish I could remember when we put them in.”
(“them” = the turkey breasts)

“How long they been in there?”
“I don’t know, awhile?”

“I bet Michelle Obama isn’t having this much trouble!”

“Are these the kinds of thermometers you leave in the turkey? Or were we supposed to take them out?”
“They’re the kind you leave in… I think?”

“This one’s off the charts, but I don’t think it’s done.”
(“this one” = the meat thermometer)

“This says it’s 185 degrees, but I think it’s only been in here a half hour.”

“I don’t think it’s brown. Do you think it’s brown?”

Dad: “I’m not eating any vegetables.”
Mom: “I’m making them for Julie, she doesn’t like mashed potatoes.”
Julie: “I love mashed potatoes!”

I used to be adamantly against remakes, until I realized that some of the songs I enjoyed were remakes of earlier, less popular recordings.
To atone for the dearth of s(s)otd the past few days, I give you two:
“Faith” / George Michael (1987)
and
“Faith” / Limp Bizkit (1997)

For the record, I prefer the George Michael version, though Fred Durst’s ain’t bad.

Things I Can Do Well:
* Spell
* Correctly use multisyllabic words, apostrophes and adjectives on a semi-regular basis
* Diagram sentence structure (why is this not taught in schools anymore? I spent three years of my formal education learning how to do this!)
* Omit Oxford commas in my written work
* Write (as a manual skill; my handwriting is [almost] consistently legible)
* Provide witty and/or scathing, sarcastic commentary on world events, public figures, family and friends and general goings-on around me
* Recognize Craigslist overposts and spam and flag them accordingly

Things I Can Do Passably Well:
* Crochet
* Cook (also: prepare quick and filling meals with almost no cooking at all)
* Write (as an academic skill)
* Style others’ hair (female)

Things I Have Not Yet Mastered But At Which I Am Consistently Trying:
* Baking
* Photography
* Following through on my Big Ideas
* Giving oral presentations
* Speaking loudly
* Using my cellular telephone for social calls
* My current job



Alright, who wants to offer me a job?

I have no idea what today’s sotd is, so I’ll open up my trusty iTunes…
(opens up iTunes)
…click Music…
(clicks Music)
…and click Play (my iTunes is rarely off “Random”)…
(clicks Play)
Voila!
“The Stars of Track and Field” / Belle and Sebastian (1996)
Yay for Scots, again…
Also, yay for interesting songwriting using the the phrases “your terry underwear” rhyming with “feel the city air”

Damn you, Half.com! Damn you and your unbelievably cheap prices!
I just purchased a Christmas gift for my brother from this, my favoritest of Web sites. All was well and good until I was waylaid on my way to check out by a “Other Shit You Might Enjoy Spending Money On” page. Unfortunately, I’m the schmuck who goes to this site regularly and Wish Lists everything, so OF COURSE Half.com knows EXACTLY what to tempt me with.
So yeah. Long story short, I ended up purchasing a Christmas gift for Julie, too.
In honor of the newest addition to my CD collection (“Singles” from The Smiths!), we’ve got one of my favorites:
“This Charming Man” / The Smiths (1983)

Rihanna-beating aside, this song got stuck in my head when I began to ponder what I’d be doing at work tonight. Two options exist: I can either run back and forth seating guests, or I can “run the books,” meaning that I assign guests to tables and assign servers to those tables. It’s trickier than it sounds, and I’m not great at it, and sometimes I catch myself worrying about it during off-hours, which I realize is a waste of mental energy, but I don’t have much else to put my mental energy into nowadays, so…
Okay, enough rambling:
“Run It” / Chris Brown ft. Juelz Santana (2005)

I was going to write about the pros and cons of Friend Mixing, but I ate a clementine less than an hour ago and my fingertips still reek of citrus and frankly, it’s distracting. I also fear that the smell will somehow become imbedded in my keyboard. I also think that maybe the coat I put in the dryer is finished now. And it might have shrunk.

This song, like most (but not all) Black Eyed Peas numbers, makes me smile:
“I Gotta Feeling” / Black Eyed Peas (2009)

Enjoy!